–President Ali holds firm to Guyana’s position ahead of talks with President Maduro

PRESIDENT, Dr. Irfaan Ali has arrived in St. Vincent and the Grenadines for talks with Venezuela’s President, Nicolas Maduro
The President, in an invited comment ahead of the meeting, said: “I’m taking in the facts with me.”
Guyana’s position, as outlined by the President, is that the 1899 Arbitral Award is a full, complete and perfect settlement of the border.

The President has also said before that the border controversy will not be up for discussion, since the matter is before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
President Irfaan Ali has agreed to a proposed meeting with Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, facilitated by the Prime Minister of St. Vincent Ralph Gonsalves and observed by Brazil, CARICOM, and a UN Under-Secretary-General.

The Guyanese President had previously made it clear that he, too, has a mandate from the National Assembly of Guyana which is “unanimous in its resolve that the land boundary is not a matter for bilateral discussions and the settlement of the matter is properly in the International Court of Justice where it must remain until the court gives its final ruling on the merits of the case which, Guyana has always said, and I repeat, will be fully respected by Guyana.”
President Dr. Irfaan Ali along with a delegation from Guyana arrived at the Argyle International Airport in St. Vincent on Thursday morning .